Michael C Stevens PhD

Associate Professor (Adjunct) of Psychiatry; Director, Clinical Neuroscience and Development Laboratory at Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center; Director, Child & Adolescent Research, The Institute of Living

Research Interests

Research Summary

The CNDLAB variously focuses on research of several psychiatric disorders commonly seen in pediatric groups, including Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Conduct Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorders. To better understand how abnormalities of brain structure and function may contribute to these illnesses, the laboratory employs functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electrophysiology (event-related potential and time-frequency decomposition analyses), eye tracking techniques, neuropsychological assessment, brain structure analysis (including diffusion tensor imaging), and genetic analysis techniques. The CNDLAB also uses these techniques to study brain structure and function during typical adolescent and young adult maturation.

Extensive Research Description

Currently, Dr. Stevens is responsible for
directing a clinical neuroscience research lab at the Olin NRC that uses
neuroimaging (both fMRI and structural neuroimaging) and other neurobiological
research techniques (EEG, genetics, neuropsychological assessment) to address
cognitive and clinical neuroscience questions in childhood psychiatric disorders. Dr. Stevens’ faculty responsibilities all
directly involve research, or teaching/administrative duties relevant to this
research mission. Dr. Stevens’ research
is broadly aimed at better understanding the neurobiological basis of many
different neuropsychiatric illnesses. He
is principal investigator on projects studying the genetic and neural basis of
AD/HD, Conduct Disorder, adolescent depression, and traumatic brain injury, and
makes active contributions to multiple other NIH-funded grants of his
colleagues. Although he has varied
interests in the types of psychopathology he studies, his career activities
have been generally focused on understanding developmental aspects of
psychopathology. His research program to
date can be broadly described as study of neurobiological risk for psychiatric
illness, differentiating clinically similar psychiatric disorders that arise in
childhood on the neurobiological level (including identifying predictive
endophenotypes for genetic association studies), and studying the interaction
of neurobiological abnormalities and maturation. In particular, Dr. Stevens has made
significant conceptual contributions in the past several years to understanding
neural network connectivity in neurodevelopmental psychiatric illnesses and
cognitive development. He is positioned
to become a leader in the field of developmental cognitive neuroscience by
examining trajectories of neural network development, relationships between
structural and functional neural network integration, and how abnormalities in systems-level
brain connectivity contribute to the pathophysiology of psychiatric illnesses.